Council of Eight
by dragoncaller45
Summary: "And upon their restless steeds did the Sage's Eight ride, unbound by stamina, without hesitation, and hearts filled with determination." OR, the story of how the Nazghul survived the final destruction of Sauron, pissed off to weathertop for a few millennia, and somehow ended up with Naruto Uzumaki as their summoner.
1. Chapter 1: In a blink

**A/N: Because they've always interested me.**

The demise of Sauron was a surprise to many. But none were more surprised than his most trusted-and most enslaved-lieutenants. The Nazgul. Still reeling from the loss of their Eldest Brother and Captain, the death of their master came as a reeling, horrifying surprise.

But Sauron had corrupted and created them when he was whole.

After his defeat at the hands of Isildur, they were sealed away, too shocked and weak at their master's first death. And to their immense surprise…

_They survived his second, too. _

When the ring was cast into Mount Doom by two of its own bearers squabbling over it, they were injured by the exploding mountain, and incredibly disoriented by the loss of Sauron's previously unstoppable grip upon their very souls.

But they were _alive._

So they fled, ran as far and as fast as they could. After close to three hundred years, they finally found each other again, at the small and familiar landmark that Men called Weathertop. They truly had nothing else to do, so they fixed the small ruin, reforging it into a mighty tower. And in that tower they sat, patiently waiting for almost a millennia.

And around their home, the world changed, shifted, and eventually…

_She _came.

The Rabbit Goddess.

Kaguya Otsutstuki.

Upon devouring the Chakra Fruit, they felt her. A whisper of power that reminded them too strongly of their old master. So the Eight Sallied forth. They hunted the demoness and when they finally met, their battle was fierce.

For months they dueled her one after the other. The Eight unkillable, but weaker than her by far. No matter what she did she could not kill them, and they could not lay her low, despite the countless injuries they dealt. Removing her limbs through sheer Tenacity and skill, running her through by dumb luck and careful traps.

When they finally smartened up and united against her, the fight became an even match.

She could not affect them for longer than a few moments, and they could do no lasting damage that she couldn't recover from by keeping her distance. Both sides had near limitless stamina(Though that was only true for Kaguya because she was rarely cracking out big Chakra drainers, having learned not to, very early on). For almost three years they fought in that Eight Vs One.

Then, finally, her sons joined the fray.

At first, the twins had stayed far from the vicious combat on their mother's orders. Then, they learned the truth of the Ritual for the great tree.

No force on earth could have stopped the combined forces of the unending Wraiths and incredibly powerful brothers. Kaguya fell in a matter of hours, and her progeny sealed her within the newborn moon.

The Eight idly wondered when and how they had missed the first one vanishing.

The duo had stood before the Eight then. Hagoromo and Hamura were a fair portion stronger than the Wraiths, thanks to their Chakra and techniques. But the eight had numbers and had dueled their mother for _three years._

If she had been as far on the back foot as she looked when they arrived, then the brothers didn't want to know how they would fair.

So Hagoromo took a step forward and cautiously extended his hand. Khamul, former second in command-now first-stepped forward as well, lowering his blade and clasping the Soon-to-be-a-Sage's hand with his firm, icy grip.

An alliance was built upon that day, and history would clamor over the Truth of the Sage of the Six Paths and his Eight Immortal Demons.

And so, many countless years passed. The story of Kaguya and Hamura passed from memory, and much that should have been remembered...was forgot.

Until one day, a scared, thin set of fingers slipped into the crumbling rubble of an ancient temple, and cut themselves just so.

Blood met parchment, and the world would forever be changed.

Almost three years later, through instinct or dumb luck, Uzumaki Naruto would form the signs for the Kuchiyose no Jutsu, and his blood would hit the ground alongside his hand.

Smoke blasted through the air, and the forest of death shook at the raging screech of a Wraith, as its sword ran a giant snake through the eye.

**A/N: Just a little something that may or may not go anywhere**


	2. Chapter 2: Three steps left

**A/N: Chapter two, electric boogaloo.**

It wasn't possible. It just..._wasn't. _When Orochimaru had first looked for immortality, many whom he asked about the concept spoke of The Eight. Demons, some said, conjured by the Sage of the Six Paths in his darkest hour to defend the innocent from those who would use Chakra for selfish reasons.

Orochimaru had never put stock into such stories, because Orochimaru was a man of science, one who looked into the Why. But even _he _knew a tall tale was just that, some times. This one was rather simple to see as just that.

Birds fly, grass grows in the sun and good soil, Shinobi build bars with entryways on the third floor as a rite of passage to drink yourself stupid.

Facts, simple everyday points of reality that couldn't be disputed. On the inverse, some things very blatantly _weren't _facts.

The sky is purple at noon, Genin can kill someone and get away with it without getting caught, and _demons exist. _

These things just _were_ for the former, and just _weren't _for the latter_. _

So when the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki is suddenly returned to the fray, screaming indignantly over the shoulder of some random, black-cloaked figure, Orochimaru simply raised an eyebrow, on the whole unconcerned.

His other eyebrow joined it when the blonde child started shouting at Sasuke-Kun over being a coward and not fighting Orochimaru-though without the Sannin's name actually being involved, poor naive thing. He was also, as it happens, pointing at the still-disguised bosom of this shell.

The cloaked figure who had carried him-who Orochimaru was watching with the faintest bit of curiosity because _wow they hide their signature spectacularly it was like there was nothing there at all-_visibly began looking between the shouting, angry boy, and Orochimaru.

Their head traveled between the two a handful of times before the Cloaked one turned to face Orochimaru fully, and the blonde stopped shouting-mercifully-at the slow, tortured rasp of steel as the Stranger drew a long, dual-sided blade that Orochimaru did not recognize the make of, thought it tickled at his brain. They grabbed the hilt with both hands, blade held aloft, its wide, flat face poised before the hood in a pseudo-salute, before the figure shifted it closer to their right shoulder, blatantly gearing up for a fight.

Orochimaru, dismissive, flicked a Kunai at the stranger.

His eyes widened when it slammed into his stomach a heartbeat before impacting the stranger, and then the _second _impact hit him.

The no-longer-classifiable-as-human _**screeched**_ unlike anything he had heard before, and the sound itself sent Orochimaru back half a step, his heart rate spiking. The children collapsed to their knees, the girl crying, and the boys looking physically ill.

Orochimaru sympathized, in a distant corner of his mind.

The world felt colder very suddenly, and colors had begun to grey at the edges of his vision. He fluctuated his chakra, even twisted the handidly returned kunai a bit, but the Genjustsu didn't break. Most peculi-_sword!_

Orochimaru weaved back a step, narrowly avoiding the cleave that would have rent his head from his shoulders, then lept sideways as the blade tried slicing him down the middle. Again and again and again he swept up, around, and beneath the swinging length of steely death, trying and failing to catch a glimpse of _who _was inside the flowing, constantly in motion pile of whipping black cloth.

He lept back across a wide gap, and watched the swordsman stalk sideways along the branch he had swiftly vacated slowly, confidently, then back the other way, pacing and patiently waiting for Orochimaru to return.

It was a challenge that _raked _at Orochimaru's pride.

The stranger even had the gall to let the tip of their blade drag along the branch, scoring an obvious, even more rankling, line in the bark.

Orochimaru reached up, and pulled Kusanagi from his lips, flicking the blade clean of any lingering saliva.

The sword_thing _returned to their ready position, and Orochimaru _blurred _across the gap, roaring in anger, his real voice leaking through, as the creature parried his first strike, and returned with a vigorous swing aimed to rend him at the hips.

The duel was fierce, swift, and unlike any bout of Kenjutsu Orochimaru had ever had, his one-handed style pressed to the limits against this stranger, and their double-handed Mastery of the blade. He knew he was outmatched, in skill at least, but he was faster by a hair, and so the first blood was his.

He spun with the momentum off of parrying one of his foe's many swiping attempts to disarm him-quite literally-and smirked as his blade found purchase in his enemy's stomach.

And then he was howling in agony as their larger blade stabbed into his back, missing the spine but piercing _quite _painfully through his spleen, kidney, and probably both sections of his stomach.

They both ripped their blades from each other in near tandem, and Orochimaru lept back, one hand resting against where the sword had stabbed into him at a downward angle. The wound was small, but...

It _burned. _Burned in a way Orochimaru had not felt since he made himself immune to almost every poison known to man with small, slow doses of Kusanagi's ever-brewing fluids.

He hadn't wanted to play his hand after one hit, but his foe was already marching towards him-slow but purposeful in a way that was _actually rather menacing_-so options were tight. There was the slight shift inwards, before he was crawling out of his former mouth, which...didn't even make the cloaked stranger slow down, because of course, he wasn't that lucky.

Orochimaru stood up and gave this mysterious enemy his best smirk, head tilting back confidently. "I'm afraid its the end for you, my wonderfully skilled sword-wielder. This blade of mine, Kusanagi, is coated in the deadliest toxins it touches-" Orochimaru's smirk slowly faded as the cloaked Kenjutsu Specialist continued the assault, completely unphased and...not bleeding...from a stab and then pull that Orochimaru _knew from experience _was enough to disembowel someone hard enough they fell connected by a flab of skin and not much else.

They were walking towards him, swinging as though they would never heft a blade again, not even slower than they were mere moments ago.

Orochimaru was, understandably, curious out of his _mind, _and lept back once more, stood on the trunk of the tree they were fighting on, staring down at the swordsman, who was staring up at him...curiously? Angrily? The Sannin frankly couldn't tell.

"You...what are you?"

It wasn't possible. It just..._wasn't._

_Unless it was._

He had seen Hidan take hits like that, but even he was at least temporarily crippled by them.

So an immortal, or at least, a quasi-immortal, since the poison had no effect, much like the stabbing.

Wait…

Black robes, blade unlike a Samurai's, ceaseless and seemingly immortal…

"No...it can't be…"

_Oh, but it could. _

The pieces all lined up, and the longer he thought, the more fell into place. He reached back to where his previous body had been stabbed...and felt a scar lingering.

"_-Marked forever were their foes, doomed to be hunted as prey-"_

The shriek, the sword, the look, and aura...everything matched up...but that begged the question, where did-

_The boy. _

But how-

"_-and so the sage called upon his demons in the first known Kuchiyose no Jutsu-"_

Sarutobi had kept an iron grip on the boy-that much was obvious, the other villages were still trying to figure out how the Yondaime _killed _a Bijuu-so the contract was hidden, somewhere in or around the village, and had slipped the notice of every other shinobi and Kunoichi who had ever passed it. Except, of course, for this boy.

Intriguing.

Orochimaru glanced at the blonde and-

_Gone. _

The Genin had fled sometime during his duel with a _fucking demon from several thousand years ago _and were now just barely within his sensing range.

Sasuke was with them.

They vanished from his range.

Sasuke vanished from his range.

He had missed perhaps his one opportunity at nabbing Sasuke here in the forest.

He could feel a small horde of Shinobi closing fast on this area, a massive Chakra well that he recognized as Sarutobi among them.

He had missed the opportunity to grab Sasuke, and he could feel a small horde of Shinobi closing fast on this area, a massive Chakra well that he recognized as Sarutobi-sensei among them.

And, to put the cherry on top of this whole horrible, nightmarish scenario, the Demon popped out of existence with a puff of Chakra Smoke, returning color to the world, and letting him focus again on more than one thing at a time.

Orochimaru lost his cool _spectacularly. _

**A/N: Poor Orochimaru, never saw it coming. Hope you enjoyed.**


	3. Chapter 3: Truth

**A/N: Chapter three, get ready to flee**

Sasuke shivered as another explosion rattled the forest, just barely beyond the walls of the tower.

Ah, the tower. Lovely, despite its lackluster ventilation.

But, he wouldn't complain, because-

_**TWHOOM**_

Because an even closer sounding explosion rocked the _lovely beautiful pleasestaytogether _brickwork of the tower, causing even more dust to rain on their heads in the cramped panic room(he didn't know if it was the only one, but only the Konoha teams and one Suna team were here, the rest...he didn't know where they were, but their team had been shuttled here immediately upon arrival, and nobody else had arrived since.)

Another rumble shook the building, and Sasuke was pressed closer to Kakashi's legs and Naruto's shoulders, Sakura's back pressed against his side in their tight circle inside the clearly outdated-_but still lovely, hold together you beautiful old tower_-panic room, his left foot bumping Kiba's, and his right an inch or two away from the Suna girl.

He felt bad for Shikamaru, who was all but forced into her lap by Choji(accidentally) and Ino(selfishly).

He also felt bad for the half-masked Suna jonin, who was stood in a protective circle with Jonin from a different village, who didn't look all too pleased with him, seeing as nobody knew what was happening outside.

Why the Genin had to sit in a tight ball while the Jonin got to stand-even if it was protectively-around them, Sasuke didn't know, but nobody was talking, so he wasn't gonna say anything.

Even Naruto was quiet, and that was impressive because Sasuke had never seen the boy sleep outside of when he chose to. That, and he was off-put by the lack of snoring, because usually, the half-pint snored like a tiger being drowned.

Another explosion rocked the tower, and Sakure relaxed in tandem with him.

It was barely audible.

The next three all were just as loud, but the forth sounded even further away, and the tension in the room was slowly being lifted as the Genin...didn't fully relax, but unwound from their tightly coiled, near panicked spots on the floor, many shifting to sit more comfortably.

Shikamaru, the poor unfortunate soul, was now stuck fully in the Suna girl's lap because she had fallen asleep much like the blonde on _his _team, and now had the lazy Nara pressed to her, one arm wrapped around his stomach like he was the worlds most unmotivated teddy bear.

Shikamaru had, unsurprisingly, fallen asleep as well, head leaned back on the foreign nin's shoulder, chest rising and falling in tandem with hers.

He almost expected Lee to speak up about 'youthful(_bleck_) companionship across village borders,' but even his crazy sensei was dead quiet, focused eyes locked to the only entryway to the room.

Out of nowhere, Naruto jolted up with a gasp, sending the majority of the room spiking right back into tense-muscled surprise. Except for the napping, all-but-cuddling duo.

"Wow...did I pass out?" The dobe asked, blinking quickly, looking around the cramped room.

There was a thud from beyond Naruto, and everyone from their class-except the idiot in question-rolled their eyes(some fondly some annoyed) at Hinata passing out from a Conscious Naruto being sat shoulder-to-shoulder with her.

Suddenly, a wash of chakra rippled through the room, intense enough even _he _could feel it, and the Konoha Jonin relaxed, sheathing any drawn weapons. The door slid open, and Sasuke felt all the tension drain out of him at the sight of the Third Hokage, smiling tiredly at them.

"The threat has passed," The old ninja told them, "Orochimaru has been driven from the forest, and the majority of our forces are making sure he doesn't stop running until he hits Fire's border."

The Hokage meant Anbu, Sasuke was well aware, but with Foreign ninja in _the damn room, _he probably wasn't going to mention that his most elite-who scared most hostile villages bad enough to be boogeymen, according to rumors-were mostly, if not entirely, gone and focused on driving away...wait.

"Orochimaru?" Sasuke asked, blinking.

"So the Grass Woman was just a disguise…" Sakura mumbled.

"Congratulations are in order," The Sandaime told them, face a bit grimmer. "All of you have passed to the third exam. You are...the only ones, bar two other teams."

Sasuke's heart did a few panicked backflips, before plummeting into his stomach. The forest must have been _leveled…_

"...Who's Orocamenu?"

Sasuke wanted to hit Naruto, but he sufficed for smacking his forehead with everyone else in the room.

Then he barely withheld a smirk as Shikamaru was catapulted into the ceiling because the Suna girl had been woken up by her black-suited team member elbowing her shoulder when he facepalmed and subsequently reacted exactly as Sasuke was expecting she would.

"No, seriously, who are we talking about?"

_Now _Sasuke hit Naruto, and it was worth the indignant shouting.

* * *

Time continued onwards, and fate whistled its merry tune.

Kabuto Yakushi gave in without a fight, Sakura Haruno had a long-needed and overdramatic slap-fight with Ino Yamanaka, and Naruto Uzumaki was flooded with righteous anger as he watched Neji Hyuuga hurt his own cousin in deplorable ways. A few days later, The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki met his wayward Godfather and bribed him into training the boy for the third exam.

The story was told as it was meant to...right up until it wasn't…

* * *

"Alright kiddo, just sign your name in blood right here."

Naruto was _pumped! _He was about to get a summoning contract! How cool was that?! He bit his thumb, and reached down to start signing his name-

_Pain._

"YEOWCH!" He shouted, rearing back as the _dangerous, do not touch _scroll hissed and steamed, the few droplets of blood he had managed to get on it steaming away. Ero-Senin blinked, surprise coating his every feature.

"That...that can't be right, it should only burn if you already have a contract."

Naruto blinked.

"Do I have a contract? Lemme see!" The blonde quickly flicked through the-weirdly familiar-signs Jiriya had shown him moments earlier, biting his thumb again, and ignoring the half-panicked look on the old pervs face as his hand hit the ground. "KUCHIYOSE NO JUTSU!" There was a large puff of smoke in front of him, and Naruto's heart soared as it began to clear because he had a Summoning Cont-

His heart _stopped. _

Ero-Senin grabbed him and dragged him back by the scruff of his jacket and Naruto couldn't have been more thankful for the old perv, because it was...it was…

A blank, empty hood stared after him, black, almost tattered robes fluttering lightly in the wind, the faint outline of a sword hilt visible in the cloth as the wind pressed it tight to the metal beneath.

"Who are you?!" Ero-Senin demanded, the hand that was holding his jacket now warm against his chest as Ero-Senin forced him to stay back.

There was no answer, but the _blank-cold-too-empty _hood turned to stare at Jiraiya for a few seconds, before swiveling back to Naruto.

"That...that can't be right...there's no way…"

But then, in the forest, Naruto _had _been bloodied by the super-strong wind, and he _was _flicking through seals in a panic, so maybe…

But, no, he would have remembered signing..._something _in his blood, surely!

He was snapped back to the present as Ero-Senin forced him back another step. Why did-oh, because it was getting closer.

Naruto inhaled sharply, and his eyes widened because _holy crap it was getting closer!_

The cloaked monster kept walking towards them, no matter what the pervy sage yelled at it. It just kept walking, until the old perv's hand went to his Kunai pouch, which made the thing pause. Its hand slowly reached for the spot where he could faintly see the hilt of its-

"_NO!"_

It paused.

"_Don't hurt Ero-Senin! I forbid it!" _

Naruto felt his heart beating like a squad of running Shinobi when its hood turned back to him, tilting sideways. Jiraiya's hand squeezed a bit, digging into the front of his jacket.

"Kid? What the hell did you tell it?" Ero-Senin asked, glancing back to him a few times.

"W-What do you mean?" Naruto asked.

"That language you just used, what did...ou...y…" Naruto blinked a few times as Ero-Senin's voice slowly petered out, even though his lips were still moving.

"_Master…"_

Naruto's entire body snapped alive, and it felt like his skin was moving as his every hair stood on end, his stomach doing its best to keep his plummeting heart away from it by flipping around.

The creature, whose voice was like being covered in ice, slowly held it's hand out to him, fingers open. Naruto blinked a few times because its hand looked so welcoming, so familiar…

He took a step towards the creature, who was on one knee now, patiently waiting for him. He could feel large, warm-_why were they so warm, couldn't they tell he was overheating? He needed to feel something cold, cold like the gauntlet on that outstretched hand_-fingers scrabbling at his arms and shoulders, trying to stop him from walking towards his friend. He got closer and closer, one of his hands reaching for that friendly, welcoming hand that was held out so patiently for him to take-

"_**YOU!"**_

Naruto jerked back with a gasp, almost dropping to his knees at the sharp pain exploding from his stomach. The hood of the creature he'd almost grabbed-_why was he just walking towards it? What _was _that?!_-tilted sideways, looking down to where he was grasping his stomach.

"_The fox…" _Naruto was taken back to the forest at that rasping, cold-_so cold, cold like ice and like memories of That Night with Mizuki-_voice that slid from the creature's hood. "_Let us take him home…" _

Naruto blinked.

"_Home...?"_ he whispered. It nodded, and now Naruto wanted badly-so very badly-to grab its hand, but… "_Konoha is my home." _

The creature's head tilted again.

"_What is...Konoha?" _

Naruto snorted. "_Only the best place _ever! _C'mon, let me show you around!"_

Naruto grabbed its hand-_which was really, _Really _cold-_and tugged it up, jogging towards the village, not listening to the confused spluttering of Ero-Senin quickly fading as they moved, pulling the cloaked being along behind him.

He had a new friend to show around the Village. This was gonna be great!

* * *

This was terrible. Sakura was shaking like a leaf, pressed against the wall of an alleyway, hyperventilating like nobody's business. That...That _thing _from the forest was...it was here...she had only seen a glimpse of it before hiding but this...no, this was fine, she could _handle this dangit._ She took a deep, shaky breath to steady herself, and leaned out from behind the wall to…

To the hood of the creature as it looked down at her, barely a foot away.

"Oh, hey Sakura!"

Naruto?

"Remember the creepy demon thing that screeched _super _loud in the forest? Turns out, he's my summoning contract!" The cheery blonde exclaimed, one hand wrapped around the monster's metal-covered hand-_were they gloves? Or just like that?-_like he couldn't be bothered to care for the aura of cold, deathly _fear _of the thing next to him.

Which...didn't surprise her in the slightest.

She had to say it, really she did.

"...Goddamnit Naruto."

**A/N: Surprise?**


End file.
